Adult

Oliver Ryan is happily married to his wife, Alice, who illustrates the award-winning children’s books he writes and devotedly cares for him in their comfortable suburban home. Their life together is one of enviable privilege and ease --- until, one evening, Oliver delivers blows to Alice that render her comatose. As Alice hovers between life and death in her hospital bed, the couple’s circle of friends, neighbors and acquaintances try to understand what could have driven Oliver to commit such an astonishing act of savagery. Oliver tells his story, peeling away the layers to reveal a life of shame, envy, breath-taking deception and masterful manipulation. As details about his past catch up with him, even he is in for a shock.

Paul Strom has the perfect life: a glittering career as an advertising executive, a beautiful wife, two healthy boys and a big house in a wealthy suburb. And he’s the perfect husband: breadwinner, protector, provider. That’s why he’s planned a romantic weekend for his wife, Mia, at their lake house, just the two of them. And he's promised today will be the best day ever. But as Paul and Mia drive out of the city and toward the countryside, a spike of tension begins to wedge itself between them and doubts start to arise. How much do they trust each other? And how perfect is their marriage, or any marriage, really?

Mary Parsons is a young woman living in New York City and struggling to cope with a body that has betrayed her. All but paralyzed with pain, she seeks relief from a New Agey treatment called Pneuma Adaptive Kinesthesia, PAKing for short. And, remarkably, it works. But PAKing is prohibitively expensive and Mary is dead broke. So she scours Craigslist for fast-cash jobs and finds herself applying for the “Girlfriend Experiment,” the brainchild of an eccentric actor, Kurt Sky, who is determined to find the perfect relationship --- even if that means paying different women to fulfill distinctive roles. Mary is hired as the “Emotional Girlfriend” and pulled into Kurt’s ego-driven and messy attempt at human connection.

Seven-year-old Lissie and her four-year-old sister, Janey, were playing with their porcelain dolls in the front yard when a puppy scampered by. Lissie chased after the pup as it ran down the street. When she returned to the yard, Janey and her precious doll were gone. Every year on the anniversary of her disappearance, Lis and Janey’s mother places an ad in the local paper with a picture of the toy Janey had with her that day, offering a generous cash reward for its return. For years, there’s been no response. But this year, the doll came home. It is the first clue in a decades-old mystery that is about to turn into something far more sinister --- endangering Lis and the lives of her mother and daughter as well.

Family relationships are never simple. But Sherman Alexie's bond with his mother, Lillian, was more complex than most. She plunged her family into chaos with a drinking habit, but shed her addiction when it was on the brink of costing her everything. She survived a violent past, but created an elaborate facade to hide the truth. She wanted a better life for her son, but it was only by leaving her behind that he could hope to achieve it. When she passed away, the incongruities that defined his mother shook Sherman and his remembrance of her. Grappling with the haunting ghosts of the past in the wake of loss, he responded the only way he knew how: he wrote.

Country singer and fiddler Jo Lover is poised to become a one-name Nashville star like her idols, Loretta, Reba and Dolly. But the stage persona she’s built is threatened when her independent label merges with big-time Capitol Records, bringing Nashville heartthrob JD Gunn --- her first love --- back into her life. Long ago Jo played with JD’s band. But they parted ways and took their own crooked roads to stardom. When the label reunites them for a show, the old sparks fly, the duet they sing goes viral, and fans begin clamoring for more. All too soon, the painful secret Jo has been hiding is uncovered, a shocking revelation that threatens to destroy her reputation and her dreams.

Bianca St. Ives is known as the Guardian. Running a multinational firm with her father, she makes a living swindling con men out of money they stole. But her latest gig had a little hiccup --- if you count 200 million dollars and top secret government documents going missing as little. Her father also died on the mission, though the US government doesn't believe he's really dead. They'll stop at nothing to capture Richard St. Ives, a high-value target and someone who has been on most-wanted lists all over the world for over two decades. With only a fellow criminal for backup and her life on the line, it's up to Bianca to uncover the terrifying truth behind what really happened and set it right before it's too late.

When Sue Glassman's family needs a new home, Sue relents and agrees to convert to Judaism. In return, Sue's father-in-law, Sy, buys the family a capacious but ramshackle beachfront house in Rockaway, Queens. The catch? Sy is moving in, too. And the house is haunted. On the weekend of Sue's conversion party, 90-year-old Rose, who (literally) got away with murder on the premises years earlier, shows up uninvited and seems intent on moving back in. Enter neighbor Tim --- a former lifeguard, former firefighter and reformed alcoholic --- who feels, for reasons even he can't explain, inordinately protective of the Glassmans.

When Lilia Swallow's husband, Graham, goes into remission after a challenging year of treatment for lymphoma, the home and lifestyle blogger throws a party. But just as the party is in full swing, a new guest arrives. She presents Lilia with a beautiful baby boy, and vanishes. Toby is Graham's darkest secret --- his son, conceived in a moment of despair. This unasked-for precious gift becomes a life changer for three women: Lilia, who takes him into her home and heart; Marina, who bore and abandoned him until circumstance and grief changed her mind; and Ellen, who sees in him a chance to correct the mistakes she made with her own son, Toby's father.

Eleven-year-old Polly McClusky is unexpectedly reunited with her father, Nate, fresh out of jail and driving a stolen car. He takes her from the front of her school into a world of robbery, violence and the constant threat of death. And he does it to save her life. Nate made dangerous enemies in prison; a gang called Aryan Steel has put out a bounty on his head, counting on its members on the outside to finish him off. They’ve already murdered his ex-wife, Polly’s mother. And Polly is their next target. Nate and Polly’s lives soon become a series of narrow misses, of evading the bad guys and the police, of sleepless nights in motels. Will they ever be able to live an honest life, free of fear?